tsujita LA in little osaka.

there have been so many great reviews of the ramen at tsujita, but they only serve the noodles at lunch. so it took us awhile to make it out here, but one of these sundays after james went to church, we rendezvous'ed over on sawtelle for some of their famous tsukemen and tonkotsu ramen.

lunar new year's eve at water grill.

my parents asked me to pick a place for our lunar new year's even dinner. our family has a love of seafood that far outweighs our love for just about anything else, so i thought it would be a good time to try the famous water grill in downtown.

the croods, displayed.

it's almost movie release time! this giant poster for our next movie, the croods, went up at work this week. i didn't work on it, but what i have seen of it has been beautiful, so i can't wait to see it in its entirety. look for it in theatres march 22!

tacos guisados.

THIS. PLACE. IS. AMAZING. i have been dreaming about these tacos since i had them last week, and want to go back every day. maybe this week i will be successful. i couldn't decide what to order so i had the taco sampler (above) which features their two steak (steak picado, bistek en salsa rojo), two chicken (mole poblano, tinga de pollo) and two pork (chicharron, cochinita pibil) tacos. they are all amazing. the tortillas are made in-house - i love that they make the mini ones for the sampler - and really, very good. i don't usually like corn tortillas as they get mushy and don't hold up well, but these are perfect. the chicharron was kind of a revelation. it was so good, i went back and ordered a whole taco of it on its own, and i was not disappointed. i could eat that taco all day long.

cliff's edge hideaway.

we went to cliff's edge in silverlake for the first time for brunch a several weekends ago. it's kind of hidden away, despite being right on sunset, and i've driven past it a bunch of times over the past two to three years without ever realizing it was there.

cerveteca and venice beach wines on rose.

we recently explored a bit more of the growing rose avenue area in venice. first, there was superba snack bar the end of last year, then we met mike and some of his friends at cerveteca, just a couple storefronts down.

paperman.

someone shared this super sweet short from disney called paperman yesterday. this is old news kind of, as it played in front of wreck it ralph, which i never got around to seeing in theatres, so i completely missed it.

southern locally @ the hart and the hunter.

on a happier note, let's talk about food! southern food. in los angeles. and it's delicious! several weeks back, we ventured over to the palihotel to enjoy a meal at the hart and the hunter. it was very dark in the dining room itself, so i apologize now for some how dark some of the food photos turned out (plus, i was far too lazy to do any editing).

a dose of reality and low morale.

news was released yesterday that the movie i've been working on, Me and My Shadow, no longer has a release date. and now there is this from the hollywood reporter:

DreamWorks Animation will lay off staff in the wake of the weaker-than-expected performance of the studio's Rise of the Guardians and its announcement Tuesday that it will release two films in 2013 rather than three, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.

The layoffs, which have been rumored for weeks, are expected to hit the Glendale-based animation studio's production, technology and overhead functions. Sources say no single film project in development will be targeted, though DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg said in a statement Tuesday that the Kate Hudson-Josh Gad-voiced Me and My Shadow, which had been slated for release by Fox in March 2014, is being taken off the schedule indefinitely. Mr. Peabody and Sherman, which was set for a Nov. 1 release, will now shift to the March 7, 2014 slot.

needless to say, morale is down and people are concerned. i can't share more than that, but how the next few weeks and months play out will certainly be interesting.